One of my first posts on this site was about integrating your marketing.
Put simply, [integrated marketing] is combining every form of advertising and communication into one strategy, spread across various forms of media. – You can read the full story here
I used various examples from combining different social media avenues to direct mail.
photo credit: borisforconi via photopin cc
Some people might take the online only approach; that is focusing on seo, social media engagement, blogging and search engine marketing. All of that is vital and necessary to get found online for sure. But how does basic print fit into an increasingly online world? As much as it would be easy to ignore print, you would miss out on some amazing opportunities to use the good old fashioned ink on paper.
There are many large companies that still use print/direct mail very successfully. Companies like Disney, Time Warner Cable, Best Buy, and Target all use direct mail (and personalized direct mail). Despite what most people may think, direct mail still has an acquisition rate of 34%. This is an edge over email marketing (25%), SEM (10%) and affiliate marketing (8%).
If you want an even better return on your direct mail, use handwritten envelopes. You can bypass the gatekeeper and get your piece in the right hands. Generally the handwritten envelope has an open rate of 80-95%. That’s pretty good, I’d say.
Here are some other ideas to use print in some creative ways:
- Use print for some social interaction. Heineken used this in probably the best way I’ve ever seen.
- Posters that do cool stuff. The BBC reported last year on a process using conductive inks that would play a music clip when a “button” on the printed poster is touched.
- Use some augmented reality in your print advertising. AR is slowly getting some traction so the chances your competition is using AR is slim. Be one of the early adopters and win at life.
- As with online marketing, content is king. However, because your printed piece has more staying power than a banner ad or facebook link, your message can be seen multiple times. Even if the recipient doesn’t act on the message right away, chances are if the content resonates with them, they’ll keep your printed material until they’re ready to jump on your call to action.
- Think outside the box with specialty printing. If you spend some time looking around your environments, you can find what others might be doing that you could either take advantage of or twist to do better. Coffee cup sleeves, table tents, perforated vinyl window decals, plastic coated coupon direct mail cards, are all decent options, but if you use your creativity, you could come up with some amazing new print marketing.
The trick to really good print marketing is consistency, great content, quality printing, creative uses and follow up. What other print marketing ideas can you share? Put them in your comments below.
Don’t ignore print as part of your marketing strategy. You’ll be missing out on some unique opportunities to engage in ways online marketing can’t.
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Spot on Jeff! I love the world of print media and really the world does also! Many confuse the bleeding newsprint/mag industry and lump it all in but the art that can be shared via this medium is untouchable (see what I did there) GoodJob!
Thanks Randy!
When people hear print, you're right, most of the automatically assume newspaper and lump all pf print in with it.
They're denying themselves so many more opportunities.
Agreed, not sure why each wave of technology feels it is necessary to slam the other. Clients see the value in being smart when you use each style of communication-print, tweet, ad. What it says to me when I see the arguments of anything being "dead", someone is not operating from a strategy that takes in consideration how that target market likes to receive their communications.
There are times print is very valuable. Do you think that print gets a bad wrap because users get it when it is not relevant to them and they see it as a waste of paper?
I agree with Bowden, it is not about lumping anything together and making grand gestures. It is about being strategic and delivering powerful results for our clients.
Great point, Michele. But I would say direct mail gets a lot of flack for this, not necessarily the printing industry as whole. I think the main reason that people criticize print media is the cost. Direct mailers that go in the trash can may cost thousands of dollars to produce. As with online marketing, targeting is key with print campaigns.
Hi Katherine,
Direct Mail isn't as expensive as everyone thinks. If you send a highly targeted piece, maybe with some purls on them and personalized messages, the response percentage is much higher and for minimal cost.
Hi Michele,
Thanks for commenting.
I believe that people were so oversaturated with "junk mail" in the past that anything that even remotely looks like it's an advertisement sets people off. This feeling is a direct result of advertisers who did NOT "get it" and felt that over blasting a simple message was better than a strategic, targeted message. From a marketer's perpective, I think the shift has happened, but there is a huge lag from the consumer.
Nice work Jeff. Great examples of ways that brands can connect offline with consumers. Like most things in life, the right mix and balance is key.
Randy raises a good point, print does not have to mean newspaper or magazines. DM, gorilla, in-store all can be cost effective touch points for brands and productive marketing tools.
Thanks David.
Everything in moderation, balance and harmony. Someday we'll reach that level.
Nice to see some online love for print media. A really good example I saw recently came from my friend's 14 year old daughter. She decided to put stickers from a few of her favorite local businesses (skate shops) on her phone case. You can't beat that kind of natural advertising, and you won't get that without printing.
Katherine,
That's a great idea about the stickers… it's such a simple thing but yet so effective.
Long Live Print. Newspapers and Magazines are sucking wind, but still love those coupons for local business that come in the mail. Just one less day a week approaching to receive in the mail.
Definitely important for companies to advertise offline as well as on especially for brick and mortar. Thanks Jeff.
Newspapers and Magazines are losing steam because they're not integrating digital media into their print… things such as augmented reality can make print media highly interactive.
Right on. And don’t forget trade show materials. Great way to stand out with printed content.
Hi Jeff,
Thanks for commenting. You're right. I did forget about trade show materials. There is a captive audience at those and you can get away with handing out lots of print material…
The trick to really good print marketing is consistency, great content, quality printing, creative uses and follow up. – Pretty much the backbone of all marketing…definitely print is not dead, as I have said before, print is not dead, and social media is not going to "replace" anything, it is simply an additional tool in your marketing tool box….sorry it took me a bit to comment, Jeff, crazy day…
No excuse Gerry… come on man…
Just kidding.. Thanks for adding your thoughts… Print definitely is an added tool, not to replace anything.
This is spot on Jeff! Even though Digital is the big focus for many right now, you can never overlook the value of a well planned and executed print campaign. There's a lot of added value to be captured by better integration between print and digital – most notably dedicated landing pages to complement the print campaigns but print still rocks!
The danger with digital media today is that some are completely dumping the traditional and putting everything into digital.
Fortunately, there are enough people out there still demonstrating how valuable print still is.
Thanks for the comment, Rich!